Flooring-clamp



(l lo Model.)

A. REDIVIAN.

FLOORING OLAMP.

No. 311,608. Patented Feb. 3,1885.

WITNESSES INVENTOR I v m, "I W Warren STATES ATFNT tries.

ALONZO'REDMAN, OF CHICOPEE, MASSACHUSETTS.

FLOORING-CLAMP.

SPECIFICATION forming part. oi Letters Patent No. 311,608, dated February 3, 1885.

Application filed October 31, 1884. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALoNzo REDMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicopee, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Flooring-Clamps, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in flooring-clamps, the object being to produce an improved implement for forcing fioor boards one against another before nailing, to make tight joints therebetween, and one having great power, simple in construction, and adapted, with suitable fixtures used therewith, to be operated against the tongued or the grooved edge of a floor-board without injury thereto.

In the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure l is a perspective view of a flooring-clamp embodying my improvements, a part of the casing being shown broken away. Figs. 2 and 3 are detailviews. Figs. 4, 5, and 9 illustrate various modes of applying the clamp to the edges of boards. Figs. 6, 7, and 8 illustrateclamp-shoes to be used with the clamp to especially adapt it to tongue-andgroove flooring.

In the drawings, A is the clainpcase. c is a clamp-bar having a head, 0, fixed to its end, which projects beyond the end of case A. o o are dogs on head 0. d d are leverstandards. b is a lever pivoted to standards (Z at c, and to the bar 0 at 0. .2 indicates catchdogs on the rear end of the case A. h and J are clamp-head shoes. The case A is made of strong plank, timber, or other suitable material, and is chambered to receive the clamp-bar 0 within it. The lever-stand ards (1 cl are bolted onto the top of the case A, and a slot or opening is cut in the latter to allow the end of lever b to extend into the case, as shown. Said lever is pivoted between said standards on a bolt at e, which passes through them, and the rear end of bar 0 is pivoted to the lower end of lever 12 at 0. A head, 0', is fixed to the outer end of bar 0, and has on it two dogs or teeth, 1) v, projecting therefrom. Two dogs, z-one at each corner-are secured at the rear end of case A,'whose ends are turned downward, as shown. The head 0 has a fiat face, and is adapted more particularly to be forced against a fiat-edged board,

but may be used with care against one having a tongued or groovededge; but to provide against any damage to boards having the latter-named edges when the head 0 is forced against them, the shoes h and J are provided, either one of which may be used with the clamp, according to thekind of edge there may be upon a board which the clamp is to be used against. To this end the shoes h and J are made with an overhanging hook-lip, z', and an offset, f, so that they can be placed upon the head 0, in the manner shown in Figs. 5, 4, and 9, without injury to the teeth 0 on the head, as the shoe does not bear against them because of said offset, and the face of shoe h is provided with a tongue, a, to enter the groove win the board D, and the face of the shoe J is provided with the groove a to receive the tongue m on the board. Thus, in the case of a grooved or tongued edge, provision is made to have the force of the clamp exerted against so much of the surface of the edge of the board that the latter is not defaced.

In using the clamp it is placed on the under flooring or upon a joist, the dogs 2 made to engage with the latter, the head 0, having one of the shoes h or J on or not, as the case may require, being placed near the edge of the floor-board to be operated upon, and then the free end of lever b is grasped by the operator and swung toward the rear end of the case A, thereby moving bar 0 and the head 0' with great force against the floor-board, crowding it against the adjoining one and making a close joint therebetween while it is nailed in its place.

In using the clamp on flooring which is not tongued and grooved, the face of the head 0 bears flatly against the edge of the board, and the teeth '0, engaging therein, prevent the head from slipping out of place when the force is applied, as above set forth.

The above-mentioned dogs 2, by their engagement with said under flooring or joist, prevent the clamp from sliding back when head 0 is forced against a board.

In practice, to adapt the clamp to be conveniently used where flooring is laid directly on the joists, the case A has a dog 2 bolted to to it centrally between its sides or back of and in a line with the bar 0.

I am aware that flooring-clamps have here tofore been made having it sliding bar or the head 0 thereon provided with the teeth tongue operated to be forced against flooro v, the lever b, pivoted between the supports boards by a pivoted lever, as shown in the d and to the bar 0, and the shoe J, provided A patents to Lloyd and to Nettleton, respectivewith the hook i, the offset f, and the groove 15 5 1y, of 1866 and 1870, and I do not claim, n, combinedand operatingsubstantially as set broadly, such devices; but forth.

What I claim as my invention is T In a flooring-01211111), the case A, the dogs 2, ALONZO REDMAL' secured to the latterand having one end sharp- Vitnesses: 1c ened and curved downward, the lever-sup- H. A. CHAPIN,

ports d (Z, bolted to the case, the bar 0, having J. D. GARFIELD. 

